Barge Design

Looking for a full Barge design, with a very limited budget .. if you can help ...

 

Adam, you must describe the intended use for the barge, the conditions in which it will be used, cargo capacity , is it to be powered, towed, stationary, and other pertinent information. For boats and other floating objects the first order of business is to provide a "statement of requirements" or SOR.

 

Perhaps Adam doesn't want to give more details except to those who can actually help him and who express their willingness to do so.
For now, I offer my help (even though I don't know the SOR).

 

@TANSL I think that anybody on this Forum who knows a bit about boat and barge design would be keen to help Adam - but everybody needs for Adam to provide some more information first before they can help.

In addition to what Messabout noted above, I would like to also ask these questions.
Are you looking for a design to build yourself, or a suitable newly built barge 'off the shelf', or maybe a second hand barge?
What material would you like your barge to be constructed with? There are barges that are built from steel, aluminium, fibreglass, ferrocement and even timber.
If you can put together a Statement of Requirements (try to make it as comprehensive as possible), and give a rough idea as to how much your limited budget can afford, then I am sure that you will get an enthusiastic and useful response.

 

You can build a typical 100'x 30' barge yourself for about $1,100,000. Trying to save a few thousands in the design, which includes technical information does not seem to make sense.

 

Naturally, I couldn't agree more with you because your kind and judicious words are full of truth. My previous post simply aims to highlight the OP's primary concern: is there anyone who can help him? Then, I believe, from his perspective, the time will come to get into the details.
Let's imagine a conversation along these lines:

1. Does anyone know about pontoons and would be willing to help?
2. Yes, I know something about the subject and I'm willing to help.
3. OK, I'll send you the information I have via email or however, and with that in hand, we can start talking.
​

In this way, the OP uses his time efficiently, without getting lost in endless discussions that, as happens most of the time, would only try to make him forget about his boat and choose the one we like best.
Wait and see.
(@bajansailor, do I sense a certain tension with me?)

 

No tension at all matey, I just think that it is constructive and useful for the OP to get input from at least a few (or more) people - and if they all have very differing suggestions, then he just has to decide which one(s) he likes best.

 

Adam,

What size barge and for what purpose?

 

As everyone here has pointed out, some design constraints and requirements are in order. What kind of barge? Are you trying to save money on the design, or the build?

I'm just going to take a wild guess here.

You can find a basic wooden scow design, 22' x 10' with construction details in this book:
Simplified Boatbuilding: The Flat Bottom Boat
by Harry V. Sucher
which you can purchase, or you can read it here:
Simplified boatbuilding: the flat-bottom boat : Sucher, Harry V : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/simplifiedboatbu00such/page/n5/mode/2up

It should be a very simple and economical boat for you to build yourself.

 

How limited is...limited?
Do you mean something like this:

 

Design is ~10% of total cost. Plans are about 20%. Steel is ~20%, and Fabrication is ~50%. If you screw up, fabrication is 70%+....so don't scrimp on the front end...

 

We have all asked questions here, yet @Adam Salem has been very quiet and has refused to answer these questions.
Adam, please do revert - there is a lot of knowledge on this Forum that can help you.

His only other post on the Forum is the one in the link below, which is another barge thread.
Concrete Barge Design need Help for computation for my Undergrad Thesis https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/concrete-barge-design-need-help-for-computation-for-my-undergrad-thesis.70229/page-2#post-984557

@Ad Hoc the barge that you posted above looks very nice - however I wonder how 'limited' Adam's budget is, when he simply says that it is 'limited'......

 

Here are some of the details from the book I posted above. There is also a plan for a 22' steel scow if you prefer to build in steel to wood.

 

He hasn't said if he needs a float to paint the sides of boats or a 300 foot barge to carry bulk cargo.

 

Indeed!!